Leaving Annecy

Wednesday, 13th May.

Another gorgeous day.  We woke early and after a cup of tea and opening of gifts from family and friends, we walked to the lake. There weren't many people about at that hour and so it was very peaceful.
After breakfast and the usual morning stuff, there were Happy Birthday phone calls and skyping with family, messages from friends and then pack up time.  Before leaving town we stopped at the local service station for fuel and a new bottle of gas...what a drama!  A woman at the cashier's office was buying gas and the process took forever, holding up our two motorhomes and several cars behind them as no one could leave before paying and that wasn't possible until the gas lady had been attended to.  In the end, a senior cashier came to the rescue but not before angering and frustrating all those who'd been stuck in the queue for twenty minutes or more. 
We eventually left for the drive south to St Jean de Maurienne, arriving there in the early afternoon, parking the motorhomes in the aire on the edge of town and going exploring on foot.  At that time not much was happening, most of the shops and businesses were closed but we found a cafe which was open and had a light lunch there.  The owner was a very pleasant and helpful Turkish man and despite our limited French and non existent Turkish language skills, we managed to have a laugh or two with him.   Back at the aire, it was too warm to sit inside so we put our chairs in the shade of a tree where we rested for an hour or so before walking into the town again.  It was busy by this time and a lot bigger than we first thought, we all enjoyed our saunter around.  An interesting surprise was the Opinel Museum, detailing the origins and the making of the Opinel knives.  The still warm evening was spent outside until bedtime.